Doing complete research for your essay about
U.S. v Emerson, understanding the sponsor/judge of the contest and acquiring a more complete bibliography.

I. Doing complete research

1) VPC has provided you with a tiny, one-sided list (4 court cases and 6 articles/books) of suggested sources seemingly designed to tilt your research to its desired conclusion -- that the Second Amendment does not protect a right of individuals.

2) This research nudge by VPC is understandable given its goals (see item II), which are in opposition to the individual-right interpretation. However, intellectual honesty demands that you look beyond (see item III) this skewed, limited list in meeting VPC's instructions to:

"critically [examine] the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Emerson, No. 99-10331, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 22386 (October 16, 2001), in light of judicial precedent and historical and legal scholarship on the Second Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution."

II. Understanding the sponsor

1) VPC is a legislative and policy advocacy group. It takes a public stance on gun control more extreme than even that of
The Brady Campaign to End Handgun
Violence (formerly called Handgun Control Inc.). For example, while The Brady Campaign does not
openly call for an outright ban of handguns, VPC does.

2) VPC staff members will judge your entry along with other unnamed judges picked by VPC. This arrangement is akin
to someone with a vested interest in a court case both selecting the jury and sitting on it. Approach this contest with the same care that you would a Roe v. Wade contest sponsored -- and judged -- by the Christian Coalition or Planned Parenthood. You must consider: Will VPC judge your entry for its quality or for its agreement with VPC’s position?

3) VPC, in pursuit of its agenda, has shown notorious disregard for the truth. For example, it recently issued a “report” (Voting from the Rooftops) that claimed gun makers provided .50 caliber weapons to Osama Bin Laden's terror network. The truth is that Barrett provided the weapons to Afghan rebels in the late 1980s
with the approval and assistance of the United States government. Should you win this contest, your reputation will be tied to
VPC. (For articles concerning the VPC truthfulness, including the Barrett see
www.KeepAndBearArms.com/vpc.)

III. Suggested bibliography

Following are lists of resources that you should consider beyond VPC's suggestions. While I do not repeat the six articles/books cited by VPC, I do repeat the four court cases it cites. While I oppose VPC’s stance on the Second Amendment, I include some references that
agree with VPC's stance.

1) Books addressing the Second Amendment

Laurence Tribe, American Constitutional
Law, 3d ed. (1999). Note: it is important that you access the 1999 edition because Professor Tribe did not address the Second Amendment in earlier editions except brief footnote mention.

David T. Hardy, Origins and Development of the Second Amendment: A
Sourcebook (1986).

Robert J. Cottrol, Gun Control and the Constitution: The Courts, Congress, and the Second
Amendment (1993).

Stephen P. Halbrook, That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional
Right (1994).

Joyce Lee Malcolm, To Keep and Bear Arms: The Origin of an Anglo American
Right (1994).

Clayton E. Cramer, For the Defense of Themselves and the State: The Original Intent and Judicial Interpretation of the Right to Keep and Bear
Arms (1994).

David E. Young, The Origin of the Second Amendment: A Documentary History of the Bill of Rights in Commentaries on Liberty, Free Government & an Armed
Populace (1995).

Joseph L. Bass, A Little Handbook on the Second Amendment: What the American aristocracy Does Not Want You to
Know (1999).

Saul Cornell, Robert E. Shalhope, Whose Right to Bear Arms Did the Second Amendment
Protect? (2000).

Andrew Carlson, The Antiquated Right: An Argument for the Repeal of the Second
Amendment (2001).

That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there. — GEORGE ORWELL

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